Happy Fathers Day, all.
So I got my head straightened out from that 2-shot article, and then I topped it all off with that one about Holy Communion. One thing that was on the production list was my message for tomorrow… and I think I already had a good idea of what to talk about.
I was going to build on what we discussed last Sunday, regarding the last chapter of 1 Chronicles, specifically where David made the proclamation of God’s goodness.
Out of my own memory banks, I know I said something to the effect that David was no stranger to the goodness of God; It was ever-present: That is, God’s goodness was the catalyst of his rise to power, and it was as peace during his darkest of days. So you could almost feel the same passion accompanying his words as he prayed to the Lord and indirectly expressed/preached to the assembly. Of all the people present, it was David who was a most exposed witness to the Truth – that God was worthy of all the praise, glory, power, and adoration, and that He and He alone had the absolute victory.
That’s right. Take that in. Centuries before Christ, and full generations before His total and absolute victory through His death and resurrection, here’s David – incidentally, a predecessor of the Messiah – already saying that God has the victory.
You could feel the faith arising from the Shepherd King’s words as he proclaimed the goodness of God. And it’s almost automatic, how you could feel his subsequent humility as he followed it up by essentially saying that we were absolutely nothing, and completely hopeless without Him.
And here’s the thing – I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only Pastor who’s heard his congregation tell him that his sermons were spot-on. I’m not the only Pastor who was approached and told that my words were ‘on fire’, or full of faith and/or humility. Now we’re appreciative of these comments, no doubt. But in my book, though these people went through some significant effort to tell us how good we spoke, the real value is to be seen in how they actually apply what we tell them in our lives. Though we know we aren’t really supposed to expect anything, it’s more validating for us to hear that people learned something from us, over the observations of how eloquent or how well-spoken we were.
I’m pretty sure David knew this – for all his passion, he knew that there wasn’t going to be much more action from his people… until, as if led by the Spirit, he intentionally and explicitly told the assembly: ‘Bless the LORD your God.‘
Though the congregation in attendance was pretty stirred up by the King’s words, I don’t think it was an accident that the writer of 1 Chronicles indicated that it was only after David said ‘Bless the LORD your God’; It was then, and only then that the people responded.
And here’s what I had in mind, here’s where I was intending to remind us and to lead us this Sunday’s message: Did they respond with singing and shouting and dancing? Sure, they could have done so, beyond what was said, that they ‘bowed their heads and paid homage to the LORD and to the king’; But on top of that look – they responded by offering sacrifices to the Lord; thousands of bulls, rams, and sheep! And the way I see it, it was a rare sight to see in the Old Testament – the people did not offer sacrifices FOR God’s goodness, but they did what they did FROM God’s goodness, as proclaimed to them by their King!
I apologized to my congregation last week, telling them that I was pretty tired in proclaiming who God is and who we are, and I was frustrated that it felt like I was the only one getting excited by it, and I was the only one moving, even after I said that this Year was a year of Movement.
Little did I know that I could have followed David’s example… and told them intentionally and explicitly – ‘Bless the LORD your God.‘
At this point in time, the halfway point of the year, this is the only time I realized this… but I don’t think it’s too late. It’s STILL the Year of Movement, only this time, we’re all going to move – in the name of our God, in acknowledgement to our Savior, with the power of the Holy Spirit, all in celebration of His goodness, glory and grace…
…All we do as worship to Him.
But then I realized, tomorrow is Father’s Day. And I suppose fatherhood is a good example of how we bless the Lord, our God – beyond what we were told. Being a father is an excellent example of an opportunity to celebrate God’s goodness beyond songs, an excellent example of an opportunity to move through worship, and to worship through movement.
I thought I’d have something ready, as a newsletter for the people to follow along with, but I’ve decided to go with the following verses, and just go from there.
The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
Proverbs 23:24
Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14
One other thing I thought I’d add, is a lesson that was given to me personally around 10 years ago. That is, I thought we could look at our own fathers to understand how God loves us. But personally, it was the other way around. When I learned about God’s unconditional love for me – that’s the only time my heart was opened to learning just how much my own Dad loved me.
Praying I do good later.
It’s 7:53PM. And sure, I think I did good… the only problem is, I only found out at the end of my sermon that Father’s Day was NEXT Sunday. So I spent a little time doing some damage control on my online posts.
I say I did good by way of pointing out that our women would do well to refer to Proverbs 31 for a sort of guideline or standard regarding how they are to excel in this reality… But with regards to the men, I pointed out that an advantage we had was that we beheld Christ and we can operate directly from how He helped us.
To that end I avoided Proverbs 23:24 in favor of 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, and expressed that if we as men had trouble understanding what a Father was, we could use this Scripture as a template.
We can be watchful, just as Christ was watchful. The situational awareness that He practiced could be a good starting point for us, but let us not forget (and consequently appreciate) that we have more than just an example, seen in Christ’s watchfulness as indicated in the Gospels; No, we have Christ (and His watchfulness) literally alive in us, here and now.
We can ‘stand firm in the faith’; That is, we are able to stand firm because the faith we have was established by Christ. Seeing it from another perspective, because we have Christ as the Author and Finisher of the faith we have that matters (over ‘faith’ we establish and build up on our own), and since Christ is infinite and eternal, so the faith He establishes in us is also infinite and eternal. There’s no foundation more solid than Christ, and there’s no faith more sure than the one He writes in us.
We can act like men. I went through the whole song and dance by saying that Christ acts upon us and responds to us according to His wisdom, which means His movements for me are different from you, especially considering how you and I are built differently. To the vulnerable, Christ showed His manly character by demonstrating love through compassion; However, to the arrogant, Christ showed the same manly character by demonstrating love through direct rebuke. I guess the point I was building towards was as follows:
We have more than just an example in What Would Jesus Do.
We have energy and power to move as we answer the question, What Did Jesus Do.
Actually, we continue down the Scripture indicated, we can see what it means to act like a man, or to express what it means to be a father: It’s to be strong, and to let all we do be done in love. I wrapped everything up by reminding everyone of my story regarding my relationship with my own Dad, just as I mentioned earlier, and adding that if we aren’t sure what it means to do what we do in love, we go back to the love that have been bestowed upon us, which is not without our looking to Christ, the demonstration and personification of God’s everlasting love for us.
And now that I know that I just did a pre-Father’s Day message, and I probably need to tackle the same observance this coming Sunday, I’m frankly back to square one – at a loss as to what to tell people next week. I’m praying as early as now for some revelation… But I remain insistent that it’ll have something to do with 1 Chronicles 29:10-30:
David Prays in the Assembly
Therefore David blessed the LORD in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.
“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. O LORD our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which I have made provision.”
Then David said to all the assembly, “Bless the LORD your God.” And all the assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and paid homage to the LORD and to the king. And they offered sacrifices to the LORD, and on the next day offered burnt offerings to the LORD, 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs, with their drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. And they ate and drank before the LORD on that day with great gladness.
Solomon Anointed King
And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and they anointed him as prince for the LORD, and Zadok as priest. Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king in place of David his father. And he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him. All the leaders and the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon. And the LORD made Solomon very great in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.
The Death of David
Thus David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel.The time that he reigned over Israel was forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. Then he died at a good age, full of days, riches, and honor. And Solomon his son reigned in his place. Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the Chronicles of Samuel the seer, and in the Chronicles of Nathan the prophet, and in the Chronicles of Gad the seer, with accounts of all his rule and his might and of the circumstances that came upon him and upon Israel and upon all the kingdoms of the countries.
Until the next post, God bless you.
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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